After HC rap,govt distributes allotted flour to Antodaya families

The state government,however,justified the deduction saying the grinding of atta entailed some losses at the millers’ end.

In September,the Food and Civil Supplies Department filed an affidavit saying that 34.5 kgs of food-grains — 18.5 kgs fortified atta and 16 kgs rice — was distributed to the poorest of the poor families in the state through AAY.

“The state government has taken a decision to provide fortified atta instead of whole wheat. If an AAY family goes for grinding of wheat in the atta chakki,some percentage is deducted by the miller. In other words,there will always be some loss of weight in the process of grinding of wheat grains into flour,irrespective of the fact whether the grinding is carried out by the beneficiary or facilitated by the state government,” it said.

In reply,the court-appointed respondent — Sejal Dand,convener of the Anna Suraksha Adhikar Abhiyan — called the policy “astonishing” and a “defiance” of the Supreme Court’s orders,adding that it “seems to be for the benefit of the miller rather than the poorest of the poor”.

The bench of High Court Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhyaya and Justice K M Thaker passed an oral order saying if there was indeed an anomaly,then the state should file an affidavit showing “the quantity they intend to offer to the AAY cardholders”.

In mid-October,the state government again passed a resolution stating that “instead of 18.50 kg of fortified Atta,19 kgs will be provided to AAY families at the same rate of Rs 38 per bag with effect from Nov 1,.2010”.

“Now there will be no question as regards passing the burden of processing/grinding loss to the AAY families,” the government told the court in a subsequent affidavit.

Fortified atta: Jury out on quality
The question of quantity apart,several authorities have also questioned the quality of the cereal being distributed under the Antodaya scheme. Last year,the state government had decided to introduce fortified atta in the mid-day meal scheme. The government had in its affidavit to the High Court submitted that the decision to distribute fortified wheat flour through PDS was based on a study conducted on 20 athletes. The study conducted by the district health officer had shown a rise of 2gm per cent haemoglobin in these athletes in three months upon consumption of fortified flour,the government said. The National Institute of Nutrition under the aegis of the Indian Council of Medical Research,Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,had in its report,however,negated any significant benefits of fortified atta.